Without the PNC, the WPA is nothing

Dear Editor,

Mr Tacuma Ogunseye said he was amused at a column from Dr Henry Jeffrey published in the Stabroek News (SN: 16/10/19). It is unfortunate that in his amusement, Mr Ogunseye was not able to see the ignominious pasquinade of his piece headlined, “APNU+AFC coalition not ideal manifestation of multi-racial politics but is the best nation has achieved to date” (SN: 25/10/19).

The utopian concept of his letter can be best described as nothing else but a chimera. All of the evidence at our disposal over the years confirmed that the principles as practiced by the APNU+AFC while in office from May 2015 to present, was nothing close to what normal people classify as multi-racial politics. Plus their professional performance in office to date supports the conclusion that Guyana can do better than this PNC-led coalition.

To push the position that the PNC-dominated APNU+AFC coalition is the best the nation can have is an uninformed and grossly ignorant position. This school of thought can shake hands with another equally ignorant WPA idea that the people can benefit from US$5,000 per year per household from 2025 from the oil revenue. I had deconstructed and exposed this fallacy in the media before, so no need to walk those grounds again today. Is this how the WPA plans to seek relevance despite their political insignificance? By pontificating pipe dreams and reckless artifices?

The world knows that I hold no brief for the PNC, but in forcing the AFC to run independent of the coalition in the 2018 local elections, they were able to unearth much credible empirical evidence to prove their strength in the coalition. This so-called APNU+AFC coalition is nothing else but the PNC and a series of stragglers holding on to the coattail of the PNC for their dear political life.

The fact is, the APNU+AFC represents the PNC and a collection of small bench parties. None of these parties (like the WPA) deserves a full bench in the National Assembly since they have no credible support base. I dare Mr Ogunseye or anyone from the WPA or the AFC to pull together a public meeting on their own of over 1,000 Guyanese voters. Without the PNC in the arena, the coalition will fall flat on its face.

After all these years, Mr Ogunseye still is unable to evolve with the times and keep up with the reality of Guyanese politics. The evidence will illustrate that 69.3 per cent of the voters in Guyana are today below 50 years of age. These people have access to the internet unlike many of their parents when they were below 50.

These under 50-year-olds can analyse and process more data at a faster rate than their parents could have in the non-internet years. Therefore, illusionary and tricky statements from outfits like the WPA can be swiftly exposed by these under 50-year-olds. Without the PNC, the WPA is nothing. Yet these people want to play with the intelligence of the Guyanese people as if they are some political force to reckon with.

Firstly, the under 50-year-olds can see for themselves how the present values of the WPA are grounded in naked opportunism and distinguish it from the populist “Rodneyite” values and political culture that was grounded in social justice for all.

Secondly, the WPA of today is perceived as an Afro-centric party, only looking to use their small base of a few dozen followers, for the personal gains of their leadership of a dozen or so persons. This discovery begs the question – Why was the WPA silent when Team Granger appointed 93 per cent of the senior executives of the current regime from one ethnic group? How is that fair in a nation that has 39 per cent Indo-Guyanese, 29 per cent Afro-Guyanese, 11 per cent Amerindians and 21 per cent Mixed Guyanese? Finally, why would the PNC, an Afro-centric political party, need another Afro-centric party to help its agenda?

It is time the WPA understands its place in the pecking order of Guyanese politics. Whether they are in or out of the APNU+AFC coalition matters not to the PNC and its political showing in March 2020. With these facts laid bare, it is time to bring an end to this pomposity from the WPA.

It is time for the WPA to accept its place as a politically insignificant and washed out political group that is now way past its shelf life date. All the noise they have created daily only serves to crowd out the deeper conversations needed to feed our collective human development needs as a people. Good riddance to this PNC-infected WPA group that continues to humiliate the ideas and ideals of Walter Anthony Rodney.

Yours faithfully,

Sasenarine Singh